Help choosing a new non-DSLR camera to replace G12

[Interceptor121]

I guess you are right he is probably going to buy top strobes anyway

 

[vondo]

It's an issue for me and the OP. He has D-2000s which are optical trigger only. I have a D-2000 and a Z-240 which is electrical trigger. When I got a 2nd strobe I went that way because I eventually may house an SLR.

 

[NozBzh]

It's is quite sad taking wideangle photos with G12 without any wideangle lens. You can capture a manta or a whale shark from a large distance, but then there's going to be so much stuff between you and the subject, that the picture will not be really great. And it's ok for a while, but now I feel I need more.

I also was thinking about OMD EM-5 (partly because of the praising reviews), but now it seems that I had to buy an expensive housing, a couple of lenses and a couple of ports, which is too much.

Do you know, if there's a wideangle/fisheye lens on which you can either add a wet dome or 67 mm macro diopters? I.e. one could do both on the same dive.

It is indeed a sad thing to take wide angle on a G12 without wide angle lens... As you say, it's ok for a while but if you get more serious it's very limited. I'm not aware of any way to take good wide angle and macro on the same dive with that system. Although you might want to have a look at this, jghflash says that he adds an Inon macro lens on his 12-42 dome. It seems like a good compromise.

Let's do some maths: the housing for the Sony RX-100 is $950, whereas the OMD is $1350. It's more expensive yes, but the difference isn't that big. The Sony RX-100 costs $650, against $1200 for the OMD. The price is double, but you get the added benefit (well, some people see it as downside) of being able to change your lenses. And that makes upgrades to your system a lot easier in the future. If you feel limited with the RX-100 (as you now feel with the G12), the only option you have is to get another camera. With the OMD you can always get new lenses (ultra wide, fisheye, super macro). If you go with RX-100, you still need to buy a wet wide angle lens for an extra $450. Of course, you need a port for your OMD, and the Nauticam port for 12-50 is at an eye-watering $800! But this does great macro. If you want macro on the RX-100 you need a diopter, that's another $200.

The RX-100 system would cost $2250, the OMD $3350. $1100 more, which when you spend that much on a rig, isn't such big difference. BUT with this, you won't have wide angle on the OMD. If you want it straight away, then the difference becomes HUGE.

I'm still undecided so I'm not trying to convince you to go for any of the 2 systems, just sharing my thoughts. If I end up going for the OMD I won't be able to afford any other lenses or ports, so I wont have wide angle. The lack of wide angle is what made me want to upgrade my G12 system in the first place! Still, I think in the long term the OMD might be a better bet. Or EPL5 maybe, but the lack of wheels for manual isn't very appealing...

Olympus OMD EM-5 sounds interesting but it will require a hard wired TTL strobe, not an issue but just more $$$

I have read about people shooting with Inon S2000 and D2000 (optical sync cord) without any problems. Or am I wrong?

 

[CliffWarner]

Olympus OMD EM-5 sounds interesting but it will require a hard wired TTL strobe, not an issue but just more $$$
I still believe the Sony RX100 would be a good choice

I do not think that you are correct about flashes and the OMD E-M5. The Nauticam and Olympus housings are designed to use the small add on flash that comes with the E-M5 to trigger remote flashes with optical connection.

 

[charlesml3]

I guess you are right he is probably going to buy top strobes anyway

I certainly hope so. Buying a bottom-of-the-line strobe is almost always a bad investment. Good strobes can and will move over to your next camera/housing easily. I always advocate buying versatile, quality, powerful strobes. A powerful strobe can be dialed back. A weak strobe cannot be dialed up.

-Charles

 

[vondo]

A crazy(?) thought. Does anyone have first hand experience with using DSLR or ILC as a primary, macro camera and a GoPro for Wide-angle? Those things are tiny enough that I've seen them mounted on top SLR sized housings and they don't change much.

That might do it for me. I'm not so much into WA photography, I just like knowing that if I see a stunning scene or a big animal I will have some way to prove it.

 

[Interceptor121]

I do not think that you are correct about flashes and the OMD E-M5. The Nauticam and Olympus housings are designed to use the small add on flash that comes with the E-M5 to trigger remote flashes with optical connection.

You are right I had not seen the housing just the camera, seems like Nauticam is moving away from wired TTL that is not so much of a surprise, as Olympus because themselves do not have wired ttl units. Probably only ikelite will do a housing with connector for the hot shoe

---------- Post added January 17th, 2013 at 10:49 PM ----------

A crazy(?) thought. Does anyone have first hand experience with using DSLR or ILC as a primary, macro camera and a GoPro for Wide-angle? Those things are tiny enough that I've seen them mounted on top SLR sized housings and they don't change much.

That might do it for me. I'm not so much into WA photography, I just like knowing that if I see a stunning scene or a big animal I will have some way to prove it.

The quality of gopro optics is poor, might be acceptable for videos but still are tragic

 

[Cumbo]

I guess you are right he is probably going to buy top strobes anyway

As Vondo said, I already have 2 * Inon D-2000.

It is indeed a sad thing to take wide angle on a G12 without wide angle lens... As you say, it's ok for a while but if you get more serious it's very limited. I'm not aware of any way to take good wide angle and macro on the same dive with that system. Although you might want to have a look at this, jghflash says that he adds an Inon macro lens on his 12-42 dome. It seems like a good compromise.

Something like this sounds tempting. I would have to check if, say, E-PL2, E-PL3 or E-PL5 would be "good enough" for me in terms of picture quality.

I'd like to get a setup with a (single?) lens (and port) which is good enough for wide angle (fisheye or just _wide_) and either threads in front of it to use my two Dyron macro diopters or, better yet, a flip lens holder. I currently have one of these flip holders on my G12 housing and I absolutely love to use it. I'd prefer NOT to get a dome, because that'd mean more screwing on/unscrewing. What kind of photos do fisheye lenses (or other wide angle lenses) produce when used with one or two macro diopters?

Let's do some maths: the housing for the Sony RX-100 is $950, whereas the OMD is $1350. It's more expensive yes, but the difference isn't that big. The Sony RX-100 costs $650, against $1200 for the OMD. The price is double, but you get the added benefit (well, some people see it as downside) of being able to change your lenses. And that makes upgrades to your system a lot easier in the future. If you feel limited with the RX-100 (as you now feel with the G12), the only option you have is to get another camera. With the OMD you can always get new lenses (ultra wide, fisheye, super macro). If you go with RX-100, you still need to buy a wet wide angle lens for an extra $450. Of course, you need a port for your OMD, and the Nauticam port for 12-50 is at an eye-watering $800! But this does great macro. If you want macro on the RX-100 you need a diopter, that's another $200.

The RX-100 system would cost $2250, the OMD $3350. $1100 more, which when you spend that much on a rig, isn't such big difference. BUT with this, you won't have wide angle on the OMD. If you want it straight away, then the difference becomes HUGE.

I'm still undecided so I'm not trying to convince you to go for any of the 2 systems, just sharing my thoughts. If I end up going for the OMD I won't be able to afford any other lenses or ports, so I wont have wide angle. The lack of wide angle is what made me want to upgrade my G12 system in the first place! Still, I think in the long term the OMD might be a better bet. Or EPL5 maybe, but the lack of wheels for manual isn't very appealing...

Yeah, putting it this way, it is starting to sound like I'm going to abandon OMD EM-5. Investing $3000-4000 on a system (not including strobes) that is not even a DSLR is a bit too much. Too bad. The reviews sound really nice.

I have read about people shooting with Inon S2000 and D2000 (optical sync cord) without any problems. Or am I wrong?

No people do use optical connection to trigger the strobes. E.g. Barb Makohin in Kungkungan Bay Resort was shooting with a DSLR and 2 x D-2000. Her photos are here.